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Since I’ve been on Bitmob for around four months now, I figure I’m due to write one of these…so here is my life (and some random stuff), condensed into (a very readable) 1300 words, minus (most of) the stuff I already mentioned in Growing Up Mac: Life With a Plus, Growing Up Mac: Windows To Another Dimension, The Little Paper Plane That Could, Game Diary #2, and Civilization 5 Scares The Bejusus Out Of Me.
I was still a baby when I was diagnosed with asthma. I went in and out of hospital and specialist clinics many times in the first decade of my life, and not just because of asthma attacks. I’m told that despite the near-constant illness I was a happy child. I honestly don’t remember. I just know I don’t like hospitals, I never want to let the asthma come back, and I have a very strange mix of pleasant, stressful, terrifying, and peaceful memories from my early childhood, all of which are mashed together.
I’m a relatively quiet and shy person (especially by Australian standards), and have never felt comfortable around a large group of unfamiliar people. This was doubly so during my childhood, wherein I typically responded to adults with a stony silence — as far as I was concerned they were strangers, even if my parents knew them. I didn’t talk much at the best of times. Throw in a scary adult asking questions I didn’t understand and you got a blank stare. I’m past that now, but back then my mum had to constantly defend me as people asked “Is there something wrong with him?” I asked her about it a few years ago. “You were very bright. Just because you didn’t say anything doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t see anything,” she said, referring to the odd reactions people had to my silence. “It got you into trouble a lot — not talking — because people expected an answer.” The truth is that I didn’t know what to say. So I let things peter out through awkwardness.
But there was one world — well, thousands actually — where I could take my time to feel comfortable: video games. Games for me were an escape from illness, an escape from people, an escape from the stress of noticing things that I could not possibly understand, and, most importantly, a magical place where I could get lost in dreams and ideas, stories and language. Thankfully, my parents appreciated my (and my brother’s) thirst for learning and knowledge — they actively encouraged us to learn at our own pace through play and discovery.
I've worn make-up around a dozen times in my life. Every time it was for a dance performance.
There are lots of stories around about how gamers drew maps and levels from their favourite games as kids. I did very little of that. Instead, I kept statistics. I did exhaustive stat tracking of my performances in sports games, as well as that of my players in those games. This included both management and non-management style games, arcade and simulation. It wasn’t just sports games, either. I recorded funny stuff and key information from adventure games, plotted out strategies for, well, strategy games, and even kept an in-game diary in the educational game Spelunx.
For as long as I can remember I have been a Mac user. To avoid retreading old ground I’m not going to say any more about this, except to stress that it was hugely important in shaping the man I am today.
I didn’t just play games on a Mac, though. Some of my fondest memories came from two Nintendo products: the Game Boy and Super Nintendo. One of the main things I was able to share with my dad while growing up was a love of sport (which is kind of unavoidable for most kids who grow up in Australia). Through multiplayer sessions with the Game Boy titles Golf and Tennis, we combined that love of sport with my love for video games. Some years later we shifted to competing in Super International Cricket on the SNES, even having three-way tournaments with my brother. Then came Jack Nicklaus 4 (best golf game ever) on the Mac, before a several years-long drought that ended with a Nintendo Wii purchase two years ago. We also played Tiger Woods 10 on the PS3 for almost twelve hours straight last Christmas. I have never managed to get him playing soccer games with me — despite the fact that it is easily his favourite sport — because the controls are too complex.
I played soccer competitively for fourteen years, stopping due to a combination of recurring injuries, study commitments, and a little thing called dancing. I started dancing when I enrolled in university — joining a hip hop and breakdance (bboying, actually) club. I learned breaking for around eight months before suffering a serious wrist injury. It turns out that I’ll never fully recover from that injury, so I have to carefully monitor the condition of my wrist. I still break, but not as much as I used to. I do choreography in several kinds of hip hop, dance and rehearse with people that come from a wide range of dance backgrounds, and perform in gigs and a yearly production. I recently branched out from hip hop and funkstyles to try ballet, lyrical, jazz, and little bits and pieces of several other styles.
I need to balance dancing with a number of other commitments — and not just Bitmob. I’m now in my fifth year of study at the University of Melbourne — completing a double degree in Arts and Science, with majors in history and computer science. I am learning to make my own games, consuming whatever material I can find about game design. I’m something of a lapsed musician — I play violin, guitar, and keyboard/piano, but seldom find time to practice nowadays. I write for another website — called MacScene. And I play video games.
I credit Bitmob for rekindling my interest in writing as a profession. Back in high school I paid lip-service to the idea that I could write for a living. I knew I had talent; I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to go for it. There may have been an element of fear — that what is possibly my greatest talent may not be good enough — but there certainly shouldn’t have been. My Year 8 English teacher convinced me to enter a short story competition…which I won. The one and only time I entered the Australasian Schools Writing Competition I achieved a High Distinction, placing in the top 1% of entrants. And I took out the school’s writing prize in my senior year, beating out a girl who took first place in that aforementioned international writing competition one year. My English teacher from that year called me “the one most likely to become a writer.” With that kind of endorsement you’d think I would be champing at the bit to pursue a career as a professional writer of some description. Nope.
The only writing (other than assignments) that I did in my first four years of university was put in a journal of random thoughts, poetry, drawings, and potential song lyrics. Everything I wrote was spontaneous; there was no planning or editing. One day something clicked. I doggedly pursued a potential career in game design. After reading an untold number of books and articles, and attempting lots of the exercises they suggested, I stepped it up a notch. I set to work on some original game ideas, resolved to improve my coding skills, and began keeping a diary of my gaming experiences. Almost two years later — around Christmas 2009 — I discovered Bitmob. After a month of reading the site I decided to join.
My first article, The Rocky History of Gaming on the Mac, was promoted to the front page, giving me a much needed confidence boost. I have since had several articles promoted to the front page or included in spotlights, although many of you will perhaps know me best from the Bully Game Diaries.
Bitmob has given me the confidence to approach other outlets with my writing or with pitches.
I recently had a piece published on the Australian Macworld website entitled Is Steam For Mac Really A Game-Changer? (It’s also my favourite article I’ve ever written.) I hope to get many more articles published with magazines and websites from around the world as I continue to explore my own writing, and consider what I want to do when I graduate (and where to do it).
Age: 23
Profession: Student
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Facebook: I’m on it
Twitter: MossRC (I only just joined)
PSN: DreamRic
Steam ID: mossy_11
Photos by Bernard Lee and Joe "Dr J" Sim.